


Panic

by UPlover



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Adult Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Awkward Conversations, Gen, Losers Club (IT) Friendship, Mentioned Myra Kaspbrak, Movie: IT Chapter Two (2019), Soft Richie Tozier, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:40:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22577959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UPlover/pseuds/UPlover
Summary: Eddie talks to Richie for a brief quiet moment in the library scene of It Chapter 2
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 1
Kudos: 45





	Panic

Once everything settled down a bit, and throwing a blanket over Henry Bowers’ dead body, Ben sat Mike down and tended to his injured arm. Luckily his injury wasn’t too serious. Just a little higher to the wrist and Mike would be bleeding out on his way to the hospital. Eddie snickered to himself despite the situation. Beverly was right. He would have made a good doctor. If he had the choice.

Noticing Richie pacing off in the corner of the library by himself, Eddie noticed that the man looked jittery. A lot was going on right now. And Richie also did a heroic, yet violent act to save Mike. 

Something didn’t feel right about Richie’s behavior. Richie’s breathing felt off. He knew that unhinged breathing all too well. 

“Hey, Rich, you okay?” Eddie slowly approached him so he wouldn’t scare him.

Richie still jumped, took a breath in through his nose to which it came out in an unsteady pattern. “Yeah, great. Lookin’ forward to the next exciting venue,” he answered in his usual sarcasm.

“I didn’t know you had panic attacks,” Eddie said to him, concerned.

Richie looked at him questionably, although he did look as if he understood. “I don’t. It was just hard to breathe for a moment.” He leaned against the bookcase, quietly. Of course, he was avoiding his feelings. 

Eddy leaned against the bookcase with him. It was just like old times. Except they never went to the library. Normally, they’d lean against a fence or a stone wall making jokes about people who passed them. His mother always worried about Eddie leaning against something that could break fearing that would lead to an injury. Eddie never realized how much he defied his mother. Before he was fourteen, that is.

This was the first quiet moment they’d had since their arrival to Derry. And it hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since they reunited at the Chinese restaurant! So crazy. The only thing that made Eddie feel calm was the man standing next to him right now. Pennywise made him forget one of the most important people to him. And he made a promise to remember.

It wasn’t his choice to move out of Derry. Moving away after he graduated from high school was one of the best, and yet terrifying things he could ever do. And he forgot. Did… his mother want that?

“What happened to your cheek anyway?” Richie asked looking right at the wound. Blood was coming right through the gauze. “Did you have a shaving accident?”

Eddie gulped. His heart started to pound. “No. Bowers.”

“Bowers did that to you?” Panic strived in Richie’s voice.

Nodding, Eddie took a deep breath. “He snuck into the Inn first and he stabbed me in the cheek.”

“How the hell did you get away?” Richie asked him.

“I was able to take out the knife and I stabbed him,” Eddie recited the events with a shaking hand.

With his mouth wide open, Richie had no idea what to say. Was it something to celebrate? 

“How do you feel now? Is your chest still tight?” Eddie asked trying to change the subject.

Richie looked at him oddly. “Huh?”

“I mean your heart!” Eddie corrected himself, realizing what he said. “Whenever one has a panic attack you heart beats so fast that it feels like you’re having a heart attack.”

“I already told you, I’m fine!” Richie closed him off. He looked unnerved since Eddie told him about the incident.

That wasn’t Richie. Then again, maybe Richie was closed off as a kid. All those jokes. And how protective he was… of him. That was when he flashed back to the first time they were in Niebolt, his arm broke, the clo- IT about to kill him and Richie… he grasped his face telling Eddie to just look at him instead of the impending doom. That was so brave of him.

Jumping when he felt a buzz in his pocket, Eddie realized that his breathing was faster. Alert, Richie watched Eddie first take out his inhaler, and then his cell phone.

It was Myra. 

Wow, Eddie almost forgot about her! This was the longest he ever went without seeing her. It was a nice break, honestly. 

“Is that your wife?” Richie asked staring at the picture on Eddie’s phone dashboard. It was a photo of Myra practically holding Eddie against his will as Eddie was struggling to smile.

“Uh, yeah, that’s her.” Eddie declined the call. Oh, he was going to regret that. Instead, he texted her back a short message. What was she going to say about this knife wound? That is if he had to tell her every detail.

Richie snickered. 

“What’s so fuckin’ funny?” Eddy asked him.

“Nothin’!” Richie shook his head.

“No, you have something to say. What?” The anger rose in Eddie’s voice. He hated what people said behind his back when he and Myra when they were in public. Someone actually uttered, ‘Guess you can tell who wears the pants.’

“Oh, you just know how to pick ‘em,” Richie shrugged with a smile.

Feeling insulted, Eddie wanted to tell Richie so much. He felt trapped. How he didn’t feel like he knew himself. Or-or…

Just then his cell phone chimed, echoing throughout the library, startling the others.

The text could have been a novel. Richie only caught bits and pieces as he peeked over Eddie’s shoulder. I’m so disappointed in you. Immediately, his nose turned up at the remarks she made to him. So negative. So familiar.

“Did you marry your mom?” Richie meant it as a joke.

Eddie sighed. Oh, Richie, you have no idea.

Instead of conversing anymore, Eddie just walked off to be alone. Alone. How come that word felt so weird?

“Yeah, basically,” he answered Richie.


End file.
